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After Toyota's withdrawal in 2009 it looked as though Jarno Trulli might be facing the end of the road in Formula One. However, Lotus saw the value of his 13 years of experience and employed him to help steer the new team's path through its tricky first year. It proved to be a good decision, but he failed to match team-mate Heikki Kovalainen in the second year as his motivation was called in to question.

Named after motorcycle champion Jarno Saarinen, Trulli was born into a family of motorsport fanatics in Pescara. As with many F1 drivers, he started his career in karts and after winning the Italian and European championships he moved into German Formula 3, winning the championship in 1996.

In 1997 he made his F1 debut with Italian team Minardi, but after seven races he replaced the injured Olivier Panis at Prost. At the German Grand Prix he scored his first points, with a fourth, and he finished his rookie season with three points.

He spent a further two seasons with Prost and at the 1999 European Grand Prix in Germany he secured his first podium, finishing second behind Johnny Herbert. He ended the season with seven points - his most successful tally with Prost - before moving to Jordan in 2000 for two seasons.

Thanks to his manager Flavio Briatore, Trulli secured a move to Renault in 2002 to line up alongside Jenson Button. He was outperformed by the Briton but still held onto his seat when Renault's young test driver Fernando Alonso was promoted to the race team in 2003.

In 2004 at the Monaco Grand Prix, Trulli secured his first pole and his first race victory ahead of former team-mate Button. However, relationships with Briatore had begun to fray and he was sacked with three races remaining despite a consistent run of form. He was replaced by Jacques Villeneuve but joined Toyota for the final two races of the season.

After three podiums early in 2005 for his new team, Trulli did not return to the podium again until June 2008 when he fought hard to finish third at the French Grand Prix. 2009 proved to be his final season with the Japanese giant and he stood on the podium three more times, most memorably his second place in front of the Toyota fans in Japan.

After helping Lotus become the most successful new team in 2010, Trulli was retained for another year. He struggled to get any kind of feel for the T128 due to a power steering issue and was comprehensively outperformed by Kovalainen, even allowing Karun Chandhok to drive in his place at the German Grand Prix because of the problem. While he has a contract for 2012, rumours have surfaced that Red Bull want protege Daniel Ricciardo to take his seat.

Strengths and Weaknesses
After well over a decade in the sport, Trulli has seen pretty much everything it can throw at him. He is a notoriously strong qualifier but has a reputation for failing to live up to his promise over a race distance.

Career High
Taking his maiden race victory at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2004, the most prestigious race on the calendar. By winning in Monaco, Trulli was the only driver to break Michael Schumacher's dominance from March through to August.

Career Low
Being sacked by Renault with three races remaining of the 2004 season. Despite securing his first race victory, Trulli was released after his relationship with team principal and former manager Briatore deteriorated.

Quotes
"I believe F1 puts you under exam conditions every day, every race. Today you might be over the moon. Tomorrow you could be under the floor. The point is to deal with that positively."

"On a single lap, Jarno is always able to do an excellent time. It's important for a team to know fairly quickly where it is on a Saturday. Jarno would give us that." Lotus technical director and former Toyota colleague, Mike Gascoyne

Trivia
In November 2000, just two weeks after the end of the F1 season, Trulli completed the New York Marathon in a time of 4:02.21.